Bithumb to Bring Cryptocurrency Merchants in South Korea

Bithumb and Korea Pay expect to have 800,000 merchants into its platform by end of the year. The company is also planning for international expansion.

Bithumb will roll out services to 8,000 brick and mortar outlets by the end of 2018 according to their latest announcement on March 26.

The exchange will partner with digital payment services provider Korea Pay in order to facilitate purchases by users.

Korea Pay has more than 200 franchise-based offline merchants from which operation it generates 300 bln won ($279 mln) annually in brokerage services.

The two will launch a pilot for the service by June this year. 8,000 merchants will be coming to the platform by end of this year according to the announcement.

It will target at improving customer satisfaction and convenience, with the new partnership.

Bithumb is already partnering with several manufacturers starting earlier this month, to see various restaurants and cafes start accepting crypto payments. The partnership would help provide payment terminals for that purpose.

International expansion

South Korea, which is an important crypto market, has many crypto exchanges. Recently, internet and gaming and marketing giants in the country have begun funding crypto exchanges. Bithumb is expected to advance competition with them. Upbit is the largest crypto exchange in the country and also planning international expansion after local successes.

The company is also working on international extension plans and has signed a deal with BitPay for cross-border Bitcoin payments.

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David Kariuki is a journalist who has a wide range of experience reporting about modern technology solutions including cryptocurrencies. A graduate of Kenya's Moi University, he also writes for Hypergrid Business, Cryptomorrow, and Cleanleap, and has previously worked for Resources Quarterly and Construction Review magazines.